Thursday, June 28, 2007

I just caught the "tell black people what they want to hear" debates and I must say that I had this real uneasy feeling the entire time. Maybe it was watching some of those CBC members in the audience, and the fact that Tavis, once again, seemed to be auditioning for his perfect close up with "Mr. De Mille."

Just remember that a politician will say or do almost anything to get elected. But what are we going to do? Looks like we are stuck with these Democrats. I believe that we should exercise our right to vote, and given the choices we will have come election time, I think we will just have to choose the lessor of two evils.

Of course the main issue tonight among the poli-tricksters is what I want to talk about with this post. Now I rarely blog about legal issues, because, well, it's too much like work for me, and I consider my blogging as a tool to vent and release some of my stress from the daily grind. But I feel compelled to write a little about this latest decision from the Supremes down there in Washington.

We all know by now that the Supremes in a very close decision (5-4) came down with a ruling yesterday, that in essence, invalidated programs in hundreds of public school districts all over the country. Programs that sought to maintain school by school diversity by using race as one of the factors to admissions to certain schools. The Seattle and Louisville School Districts had actually been victorious in lower Federal court, but...well you know some white folks weren't going for that: "Honey it's just not fair, why should those black kids get specialtreatment over our child just because they are black? This is not what Martin Luther King was talking about being judged by the content of their character. I spend good money on private tutors and I will be damned if I let some bureaucrat let my child miss out on a good education."

So anyway, King Georges appointee, Chief Just-us (white folks) John G. Roberts, Jr., in speaking for the majority,well almost the majority (more on that in a minute) said; that such goals as these school districts were trying to achieve were"directed only to racial balance pure andsimple". This is a goal he said was "forbidden by the constitutional guarantees of equalprotection." If that all sounds a little confusing to all you laymen out there, it's because it is. It's nothing but twisted pretzel logic to justify some racist bullshit. I mean, if the consequence of living in an unequal society (for whatever f*****g reason) is a form of de facto re segregation, shouldn't we be trying to structure some remedy to make the playing field more equal? Not according to Chief Just-us Roberts, Uncle Clarence, and his other two side kicks; Alito (thank you frat boy)and Scalia. No, according to these geniuses,"the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Huh? Soooo how the f**k could I be discriminating against someone on the basis of race, when I am the one that is being discriminated against? I must have missed something in my Introduction to Con Law class. These wise men actually called up the memory of that landmark 1954 civil rights case Brown v. Board of Educationin their opinion. How ironic is that? And you thought some of these kids out here on the blocks were gangsters. No, what the Supremes did today was some gangster for your ass. They actually cited the very case they are weakening as the corner stone of their argument to weaken it.

There is one saving grace though. Even though Justice Kennedy was one of the five striking down the school districts remedy in this particular case. He did write a separate opinion which attacked Chief Just-us Roberts, and Uncle Clarence and company for their opinion. Justice Kennedy seemed to be giving school districts some guidelines for future cases to stop racial insulation and de facto re segregation. What he seemed to be saying in his separate opinion, is that If they ( public school districts) try a more narrowly tailored remedy which can take race into consideration he would vote with the other four justices who were in the minority this time around. Lord please don't give the "frat boy" anymore appointments.

But what does this all tell you folks? I will tell you what it tells me. That we need to get our shit together and fast. These white folks out here are not playing. Now truth be told, I was kinda down with separate but equal myself. So I am not the one to carry this integration torch. Give me what they have, and I will be cool. I know some of you black folks lose your freaking minds if "charlie" doesn't let you into his clubs, his schools, his restaurants, or his f*****g house. Not me, "charlie can have it all to his lonesome,as long as he gives me the same resources to build my own. "Oh field you are such a segregationist" No, I am a realist. White folks self segregate from us, and if you don't believe me look at the make up in the public school systems in large urban areas around the country. Here in Philly some white folks who barely have a pot to piss in will spend $500 per month to keep their kids in catholic schools. Why do you think that is? Because they want little Johnny to get a Jesuit education? I don't think so. They don't want little Johnny in school with Jamaal that's why. So don't tell me about wanting to segregate, tell that to those other folks.

But I understand when certain school districts want to give some poor black kid with potential who is in a failing school a shot at the school across town with all the nice facilities. That is admirable, and until us black folks get our acts together, I suspect that will be happening more and more. Which is why this decision by the Supremes is so scary. They are basically saying; "stay your black ass over there, we have white kids over here who need those seats."

Alright Chief Just-us Roberts, I will stay with my own people; just give me something to work with. I will start with about forty f*****g acres!

52 comments:

Leota2
said...

All due respect FN---F*** the forty acres. . . .unless it's city real estate.Let's make these old white bastards live in the neighborhoods that will be affected by the eventual fallout of this bullshit. And forget Clarence--he's been a loser since way back and needs his black ass kicked from here to Sunday. I'm sure he was the biggest cheerleader for this bullshit! --May he and the gang of five burn.VOTE!!!!

"There were black families in the original law suit as well, not just white."

Anon. I know someone would make that point. But a couple of things.First, the lead plaintiff in the Louisville case was a white student who felt he was denied access to a school that took on a black child instead. In Seattle, you are right, black families later joined the white plaintiffs because they wanted their children to attend the majority black school.

But we are talking about Seattle, a city that was never under a court ordered supervised desegregation plan like Louisville was. Now which city do you think had more equal facilities for both black and white? It's not surprising to me that there were some black families in the Seattle case who wanted to stay in their own area schools. And you are right, I probably would have been one of them, if, and only if, the facilities were receiving equal funding.

But that doesn't make the decision any less ludicrous, the lower courts had already decided that both school districts had narrowly tailored their remedy to stop segregation. So I didn't see the need to say, that the plans weren't necessary.

This whole idea of taking a few black kids out of a school and then allow the rest of our kids to languish in underachieving schools doesn't work for me.

I wrote yesterday that I really don't care about the integration aspect of education. And this need for our kids to go to school with white kids is too "white is right".

My kid went to a predominantly white, affluent school and it did nothing for him. It did much better at a school with less diversity. And he's learned so much more.

We need to take care of the schools in our kids' neighborhoods. Not have people fight over spots in a few good schools.

Government at all levels continue to make little programs and initiatives to make it seem like they are doing something to hide the fact that they don't know what to do.

I loved how Clarence said the four dissenters were like the segregationists in the '54 case.

And I was amused by Roberts' "the only way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race" quote. You'd think by some of his judgments that discrimination didn't exist.

This should be a wake up call to all Black folks, but it won't be. You can talk all the separate, but equal crap you want and our kids will keep failing.

Most school districts are based on property taxes, the lower the property value (the hood) the less the school gets to educate each student. Our neighborhoods are red-lined so they will not have value, it is a viscous cycle and we play right into by continuing the same crazy-ass behavior generation after generation and wonder why things do not get any better...

Until we raise our own standards we will continue to be treated as "invisible", I agree in a perfect world we wouldn't care what they did, but this isn't that world.

I am in the process of discussing a revolutionary idea Boys Town 2007 where I propose we remove our young men from single women households and create schools for them that are staffed by Black men. We are having our young men raised by women, no other people do that. Strong men need to be raised by strong men. We can't continue to have our men raised by women...

Great post. I sort of disagree with one thing- they're not going to give us s**t. At least they won't want to give us s**t. We may have to take to the streets for the "equal" part of seperate but equal, but I think we can get it. After that, it's up to us to make it seperate but better. That's not optional, either.

Why would you need white people to give you the resources so you can have what they have? You'd be relying on them to do everything you want to do. White people would have freedom, and black people would be tied to whites by chains of reliance.

Bussing certainly has its pros and cons. One of the pros that no one has touched on is the benefit of diversity for white children. Not that white children don't get enough benefits in general, but this one is healthy four our entire society.

Maybe it won't do our Black children much good to be around white kids. Black people are always around white people and we know how things work. White kids who have never been around Black people have an easier time buying into Black stereotypes. For our country to move slowly toward healing and unity, children need to meet each other and see each other as equals. School may be the best place for this to happen.

Maybe it was the debate last night that has me thinking negative. It just might be a negative-fest for a couple of hours and then I'll will snap back to my usual self.

I hear ya Natalie and I agree that constant interaction is the best way to combat some of the stereotypes white people believe---but then I remember that these same kids who were born in 1988 (not 1888) are in college having "ghetto parties" and painting their bodies black posing for pics holding up 40s and wearing gold chains.

This ruling sets the tone, it will effect more than just education. Let us hope that the NAACP will resume its older role and pursue court cases of discrimination.I can here an employer saying "it is not discrimination, unless our intent was to discriminate."

Do black people really have that much of a desire to associate with whites that they are willing to let some social engineer ship a white kid 20 miles to change the ratio of a schools black to white students? What a bunch of crap. Are predominantly black schools so inferior that they need whites to up the quality? I don’t see why they would be. By the same token are predominately white schools so inferior that they need some black kid to travel 20 miles to up the quality?

Mr. Field, you stated, "Here in Philly some white folks who barely have a pot to piss in will spend $500 per month to keep their kids in catholic schools. Why do you think that is? ... They don't want little Johnny in school with Jamaal that's why."

Im sure that is true in a vast minority of cases but in reality, private school is just way better than public school, hands down. Its not even close. To try to make that a race issue is ridiculous. Its time to stop looking for racism in everything that white people do or dont do. Contrary to what you want to believe, we white people are generally not all that concerned with race. I was in a criminal law class my first year in law school and I had a great conversation with a black classmate. She asked me, "if you were a taxi driver and there were two people flagging down your cab, one white and one black, who would you pick up?" I said "whoever is first." She told me that I was lying. I then told her, "if I were approached by two potential customers, one white with his pants sagging and he had a tupac shirt on and gold teeth, and one black who was dressed conservatively, no doubt I would pick up the black guy." Even with those facts she still said I was lying and that I would pick up the white guy. Unbelievable! Often we just cant win. Contrary to popular belief, we white folks (certainly there are exceptions) judge a man by his culture and character more than race by far these days. We dont just look at a man and say, "he has dark skin so he is a bad guy." We look at a man and say, "he has gold teeth all across his mouth, a tupac shirt on, thug life tattoos across his neck, he is probably a bad guy." That goes for whites looking just like him.

Can a Supreme Court Justice be impeached for lying under oath? Because when Roberts and Alito were undergoing their confirmation hearings, they got asked about their religious and civil rights beliefs (especially Alito, because he left a paper trail that almost got him "Borked" out of the confirmation hearings), and both men stated that their political ideologies, their religious beliefs, would NOT influence their legal rulings.

There have been too many 5-4 decisions lately, with Lead House Negro Clarence Thomas being the swing vote on all of them. Any coincidence that the increase in such rulings have occurred since Roberts and Alito are occupying the bench?

Which is clear indication that political ideologies are facilitating ignorance of the laws, established legal precedent, and wiping one's anus with the U. S. Constitution.

I will ask again: "Can a Supreme Court Justice be impeached for lying under oath?"

Because every ruling that has been issued by the Roberts Court are clear indication that Alito and Roberts lied about their commitment to uphold and defend the Constitution, and don't lay the blame at Bush's feet, either.

Blame wimpy Democrats like Harry Reid and others who cut off Russ Feingold and DiFi from laying into them and causing Mrs. Alito to cry during her husband's confirmation.

Blame Obama for having to be dragged kicking and screaming to vote for cloture to cut off Alito's nomination from even coming to the floor for a vote.

Blame Lieberman and those like him for being disingenious to vote against cloture, which allowed his nomination to come to the floor, but voted against confirmation.

The more important act was to cut both of them off from even coming up for consideration to be confirmed.

And three of those at last nite's debates voted to confirm Roberts: Biden, Clinton and Obama.

I didn't even know the debates were on last night until I was flipping through the channels and stumbled across them. When I landed on the channel there was a close-up of one of the white male, "no chance" candidates talking and I was shocked to hear he was actually talking at length about Africa! "Finally, the Motherland gets some attention," I said to myself. Then the cameras switched and showed Tavis standing in front of an entirely black audience and I immediately understood what was going on. It was Pander to Black Folks Night for the Democratic Party. The one night (well, one of maybe four or five nights) that the candidates will focus on what they consider to be "black issues" to lock in our complacent votes for another election cycle. Because I mean who would possibly give a damn about Africa except for black people? PSHAW!

The entire event last night was offensive. It is clear black people are still being viewed in limited terms. To analogize this to my high school days, they would be quick to pick us for their pick-up basketball team, not so quick to pick us for the debate team. Or the chess team in my case.

It's hardly a time for healing and unity, unless you're talking about Black America, and there are some black people I'm not inclined to unify with. No, it's time to (for one thing) find and implement ways to facilitate the destruction of white male privilege.

"...remove our young men from single mother households and place them in schools staffed by black men.."

Forgiven, please; I may not be able to teach them how to pee standing up, but I can strip down an AK-47 and reassemble it in under a minute. Maybe you have not been keeping up with the "kill rate" of black men all over the world, but I would not suggest taking my sons - didnt have any girls unfortunately - out of my home to educate them. Their father tried it on a couple of occasions, I couldnt get a clear shot at him or the problem would have been resolved years ago. Enough with the "plantation mind-set" if you please; you also didnt factor in the "men on the D L", those secretly taking illegal drugs, gangs and assorted nutbars and whack jobs in da hood.

Women are raising young men alone for a variety of reasons not of their choosing. Could you suggest another alternative please, rather than trying to "take" my sons? I have enough competition already, and ?strangely enough they are usually "people of color". A "white man" supposedly could not have gotten that close. Thanks.

Enough with the "plantation mind-set" if you please; you also didnt factor in the "men on the D L", those secretly taking illegal drugs, gangs and assorted nutbars and whack jobs in da hood.

First of all this is not an indictment of Black women, it is an indictment of Black men who have left the most important job a father has to be done by women. Secondly, unless you are a widow then you are raising children alone by choice, maybe a good choice but by choice none the less. If I do something wrong once it is a mistake, if I keep doing something that causes me hardship then it is no longer a mistake, it is a life-style.

If you had read my article you would have known that I am not advocating taking them down to the corner to let "pookie" and rayray" raise them. I am talking about us creating schools designed to give them the things that today they are sorely lacking, schools staffed by professional educators, counselors, and men of character. Don't listen to me, just look at the statistics yourself. The drop-out rate, the murder rate, more are in jail than in college. Is racism a part of this? Without a doubt, but are we doing things to shoot ourselves in the foot as well? This isn't about sentimentality, it is about doing those things necessary to lift up a people. It is selfish for any parent to condemn their child to a life of barely scrapping by cause "I love him", love him enough to give him a chance at a better life...

So the answer is to take black boys from their mother, not black men not make black boys to begin with, or not desert black women. Great. RAPE THE WOMAN ONCE AGAIN!!! STEAL FROM HER, TAKE FROM HER, ABUSE HER. I guess the heartless bitch would have no problem giving up the child she carried. Whatever. Stupid ass shit.

Interesting concept, Forgiven - although I have a few problems with your target demographic (why not open schools called "Man Up!" and target Black men instead of or in addition to?), and major issues with your choice of language.. "taking" or "removing" children from their mothers and so on...

While I have no animosity at all towards the idea of well run boarding schools and leadership, arts and other academies and so on for both boys and girls, where children are offered various opportunities to attend a variety of excellent schools, within and away from home neighborhoods - your apparent placing of blame for the absence of the fathers on the mothers who *are* there for the children, and your authoritarian language choices, give me pause - and cause me to question exactly what your end goals would be and how the children's views of women in general and their mothers in particular would fare under your system.

I think that unless you read the original article, it may seem like some fly by night, hair brain idea. I have always stated and firmly believe that the problem starts with our men, we are the ones in the position to change the plight of our people. The problem is we can continue to debate how things "should" be or we can deal with how things are.

As I see it we can wait until the current Black men wake up and take their responsibility; which doesn't look very promising or we can begin the process of developing new men. The idea I know sounds frightening, but it is only because it is so radical. There was a time in our history when young men would leave home to go be trained in how to be successful men.

I am not advocating completely taking anyone's child, this isn't kidnapping. I again suggest reading the original article and then we can discuss the merits of the idea, until then it isn't possible...

Far scarier are some the decisions on price fixing, mcCain Feingold, rights of students. Damn they should not opposed Bork.

But ya know, maybe you have a point. Less hip hop and rims, more studying. My Ja-mochan daddy studied in the stereotypical one room school house and became doctor. Facilities and good teachers go but so far. Without the will, they mean NOTHING...

"Im sure that is true in a vast minority of cases but in reality, private school is just way better than public school, hands down. "

Anon.here in Philly that is not neccesarily true. The catholic schools here with one or two exceptions, are not these great academic powerhouses. Frankly, they only serve as a place for white kids to go to segregate themselves from the black public school population. And how do I know this; my white friends told me so. (You gotta read my blog more often) :)

"A company that provides translation services and cultural sensitivity training to other organizations is being accused of sex discrimination and racial insensitivity in its own ranks."

"To bolster her discrimination complaint with the state, Kelly included photos allegedly showing the company's top two human resources executives dressed up for the 2005 corporate Halloween party as a black pimp and a white prostitute. The "pimp," a white woman wearing blackface and sporting a fake gold tooth, won the prize for best costume, the complaint said."

just goes to show that the hegemony will only GIVE the underclasses rights if those rights can then be twisted around to support the hegemonic power structures.

what we need is to OVERTHROW the system and stop expecting the hegemony to GIVE the underclasses anything. Cuz they'll only give what they can then use to reinforce their own positions of power and privilege.

thanks for writing aboutt his Field - I hadn't heard about it yet, up here in canada.

I am calling for an all-out national boycott of public schools! It's time to start a home schooling movement, a freedom school movement. Fifty percent of our kids aren't graduating anyway and half of the rest aren't learning anything.

The reason that Blacks wanted to study with whites is:

(a) Being FORCED by THEM to study separately was a societal badge of inferiority that disadvantaged us in many ways beyond schooling, e.g. in jobs and housing. Integrating the schools was part of an overall legal strategy to increase all sorts of opportunities for Blacks in work and housing; and and to reduce the overall color-aroused societal disadvantage and repression that we face every day.

(b) We know that Whites will NEVER, EVER authorize as much money and resources for Black schools as they do for all-white schools. If they never have before, and this is always based on the wealth in the district, who the heck is going to force them to provide equivalent funding to Black schools now.

This is effectively a decision to education Black children separately and UNEQUALLY, which only reconfirms what was already happening anyway.

We should ALL stop sending our children to public school. PERIOD. A general boycott of public schools. Teach them at home or in a restaurant until the they have the same funding level as schools in the suburbs.

Do not request a permit to stop sending your children to school. Just stop. They cannot put all Black parents in jail.

This will cause a crisis in America education. There are hundreds of thousands of white people whose jobs depend on the fiction that they are participating in the education of Black students. The way to get them involved in this discussion and put pressure on them is to simply stop sending Black children to school.

This is the way for us to tell the US Supreme Court and all of America that we are not going back to SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL for our children. To hell with white people! We will educate our children ourselves, in our own homes and communities, together, using our broadband connections as our classrooms and our classroom materials. They do not have the resources or the will to put all Black students and their parents in jail for truancy.

There is already an educational crisis in the school systems and everybody knows it. Now let's make it into a political crisis for them and a new educational and self-determination opportunity for us.

Boycott the public schools until they have Black control over Black students' educations and a national floor of per capita funding beneath which no state, community or school will go in educating its students.

Since that ain't going to happen immediately, I propose that we simply stop sending our kids to school and begin teaching them in groups, at parents' houses and Black churches, to teach our own children in our own way.

I don't see the harm in a family that "barely have a pot to piss in" spending $500 a month to keep their children in private schools. At least it shows that the parents are putting their children's education first which is refreshing in this ME, ME, ME society. And just because one of your friends tells you that the reason white people send their kids to private schools doesn't mean that ALL white people do that. The white bashing that goes on here is offensive and hardly anyone steps up and says anything about it.

Francis L. Holland.Are we going to have the infrastructure to hire these children when they become adults and enter the mainstream? Do you understand the disadvantages we have now, when we do have an education? We do know that graduates from certain colleges and universities get first dibs on the big money entry jobs and are are actively recruited from those institutions. The children of privilege are given more privilege and that a "C" student from Yale is valued more than an "A" student from Morehouse. So now you propose another barrier as if the white power structure would accept our "freedom schools" as valid.

This decision affects affirmative action and employers will not feel compelled to even consider diversity in the the workplace. It is a fallacy to think if the were the most highly educated people on the planet that there will be more employment and that we could over come the stereotypes without first fighting racism. If we are to be separate then we must have all institutions and an insular economy.

Having gone to segregated schools thru high school and then to an integrated university; I can tell you one thing black people do not learn in a segregated situation, that is how to compete with white people, the ability to be self confident and not fearful in social situations. We can be as smart and knowledgeable, but not having any experience in their environment can be detrimental.

I personally believe that black people's first introduction to white people, should not be the first day on a job.

"don't see the harm in a family that "barely have a pot to piss in" spending $500 a month to keep their children in private schools."

Well actually if they do it to keep their kids from interacting with black kids it's pretty f****d up don't you think?

"At least it shows that the parents are putting their children's education first which is refreshing in this ME, ME, ME society."

How is it putting their education first,if there are better schools academically that happen to be pubic schools?

"The white bashing that goes on here is offensive and hardly anyone steps up and says anything about it."

mary, I wish they would step up and say something about the "white bashing". But if they did, I am sure someone would point out the black bashing,the female bashing, the male bashing,and all the other bashing that goes on in equal parts.

I mean it could be worse, you could be a house Negro. Now they really get bashed here ;) BTW, remember that old Doobie Brothers song; "What A Fool Believes He Sees"? I think it might be applicable here don't you?

Field says, "BTW, remember that old Doobie Brothers song; "What A Fool Believes He Sees"? I think it might be applicable here don't you?"

The same can be said for everyone who comments here, not just me. I rarely comment anywhere because it's impossible to have a dialogue without everyone jumping down my throat and telling me what I am REALLY meaning when I mean no such thing. Add to that the passive aggressive snide remarks dressed up to look like some sort of humor and it's easier to remain silent which is what I will do after posting this.

I am convinced that no one wants to hear anyone unless what they have to say mimics their own beliefs. If someone offers a different take on things, then we're the delusional ones and not worth listening to without adding unnecessary insults. And no one can address one slight without bringing up another whole list of slights against people who have it worse. We have to erase feeling offended because others are offended more or worse or whatever. I think I know this drill. I've seen it played out once or twice or five hundred times.

I should have remembered the rules for commenting. Only way to goes! and AWESOMES! are welcome.

maryquitecontrary,Being black is not our construct, the definition of our existence in most of the world was determined by whites for a very long time. So why is it when we speak of racism and racist we would not mention white people and bash those people with those attitudes? Would we love the way we were defined and love the ones that have actively kept us from being citizens, pursuing happiness and having life, liberty and property as our rights too?

If you take it too personally, I would say that you must be feeling some guilt, otherwise you would not dismiss as invalid, what FN said that has been said to him. Some white people are honest and tell you where they stand and what they think; as one white coworker of my ex-husband had told him that blacks would never be allowed to move in a certain section of the city. That stayed true until about ten years ago. His neighborhood was one of many new homes that were built in the late forties and early fifties that black people could not buy in this city, until white flight. One difference in the black and white working class family is money. The money that would have saved in utilities in an new home could have provided a college education for their child. Of course not all whites lived in these homes, but it was whites that live in the homes because of their whiteness; so now, what would I call them? Does that include you?

I'm a faithful reader of this and other Afrospear blogs. Whites and others enjoy infiltrating black oriented blogs and telling folks what to do, what to say, how to say it. They are only satisfied when THEY start and/or finish the "dialogue" on racism. They always want to be "in control of" or "leading" EVERYTHING. If they are not leading the racism discussions, RACISM DOESN'T EXIST, and "what's all the fuss about" "Not ALL Whites do/say/think _____?" God, this straw man bullshit just has us going in circles. If this blog pains you so much and you're feeling like such the victim or the outsider, WELCOME TO THE GOOD OLE U.S.A. How does it feel??? Lady, PLEASE!

All I know is that before integration, there was not wide spread denigration of education by black youth. The horse is out of the barn now. There's no going back to all black schools that can teach black kids to read and write. Not if the teachers will continue to be mostly white and fall into one of two camps:

(1) White teachers who don't expect much from black kids because they will never be achievers due to (a) bad attitudes or (b) bad genes (c) or retardation

(2) White teachers who want to be the kids' friends, have them call them by their first names, dress like slobs in the classroom, and impart no concept of professionalism in their workplace.

Hats off to old school black teachers, most of whom have retired or will soon be retiring who imposed discipline in class and expected their kids to accomplish something. And conducted themselves like professionals in a professional work place. So much for modeling alternative and positive behavior for urban youth.

Field, you DO generate conversations with your blog as do others. Thanks.

Marymary, please do not "go silent" as your opinions are just as valid as anyone elses. As a "female" you are a just as valued and intelligent as anyone on this and and any other site. It is not my site, but - Puck em if they cant take a Yoke! There are "black folks" I cannot stand to be around, and a couple I truly HATE but cant say a damn thing.

Forgiven, have your paper in my hand and there are SEVERAL points that I disagree with, but this is not my site. Thank you for supporting "strong black women" and your oppositon to "weak ass men". My objection to your wording is purely personal, as both I and the sorry-ass I was married to were both medical professionals. We could easily afford to do all the things "middle class Americans" could, yet he was a "pugilist" and we appeared to be on "welfare" the entire marriage. He got support; I got grief.

There were some bright moments later, like the time this "single mother's teachings" came out and "baby mama" had to thank me for teaching my sons how to cook, clean, shop, and care for his own child in a manly fashion. Not all black males are "brutes and animals" - true dat, but not all black females are "stupid hos". They are also quite capable of raising "men" while living alone for whatever reason, as I am wife #2 of 4 or 5. Concentrate on correcting the bad behavior of "males", and leave my sons alone - black, white or Jap-Talian. It is my JOB to protect my young according to your "scripture", and if I think you are "wrong" or a threat to me and my kids - I will drop you like a bad habit. Friend, foe and family. Do not threaten to "take" my child away - been there; done that. If you wanted to "save" him so badly, you (second person plural) should have listened to MY screams, as that black male was beating the hell out of me. Check out the African way of the Orisa for some insights on "male bonding". However, if you still think males can control the street and the home simultaneously - go for it.

I LOVE the idea of having black females educated in all female settings. Better self identification and potentially less opportunity to settle for some loser when they have a grounded self image, know they are smart and capable and don't have knuckelheaded boys making fun of them for being good students. Take boys of the classrooms and let the girls learn. Boys DO mature more slowly and they are dragging females along on their slow ride to maturity.

Everything is always about the black male, isn't it? You never hear about campaigns to uplift black girls. I'm always raising this issue in community meetings when people talk about youth programs. I have to remind people that girls are youth too.

Hats off to old school black teachers, most of whom have retired or will soon be retiring who imposed discipline in class and expected their kids to accomplish something. And conducted themselves like professionals in a professional work place. So much for modeling alternative and positive behavior for urban youth.

I agree with this. My older sister is a teacher, and though she has the years, she doesn't quite have the age to retire. She and her contemporaries are the last of a breed - the Old School Black Teacher. When these folks leave, I truly don't know what's going to happen for Black youth.

The Old School Black teacher, as I remember, seemed to almost have a mystical power. The black teachers I had were older women or older men, probably late 40's to early 50's. They were the type of teachers who could scare the daylights out of you with just a look. They had this kind of glare that let you know it's time to back down. Maybe because they looked like they could be our grandmothers or grandfathers. The teachers also had the power to do things that you can't get away with today. Kids got paddled on the behind or hit on the hand with a ruler for acting up. One teacher (male) even football-tackled a boy who was beating up on another boy outside the school. This was the early 80's and by the mid 80's, corporal punishment was out. The disciplinary situation started getting way out of hand around this time.

" The Old School Black teacher, as I remember, seemed to almost have a mystical power. The black teachers I had were older women or older men, probably late 40's to early 50's. "

mark bey: i hate to break it to you folks but education is not a one way street, it takes support from the parents to help educate children.

In my oppinion anyone who mentions education but dosent mention the fact that black folks need to get our learning and educational houses in order is a commeidian as far as Im concerned and should be on stage telling jokes.

Also a lot of black boys are placed in special ed do to behavior problems, you cannot expect teachers to be able to control our children if we cant. Get a grip folks.

I think parents do have to get their educational house in order, but we also need to direct special focus on the children whose parents may, sadly, never get it together. It's important to break the cycle of poor education, lack of respect, no discipline, and that's where the "old school" teachers came into play. They went beyond the call of duty to help kids. I remember some of my teachers would bring kids breakfast, celebrate their birthdays in the classroom, stay after school to tutor, etc. These teachers were the only form of stability some kids knew.

I also think there needs to be a better educational program directed towards black boys. There is a big stigma placed on young men who do well in school. They're accused of being uppity or soft, or "acting white." There also needs to be more careful diagnosis of children. Some kids in special ed are actually very bright, but bored with the curriculum. Some kids have dyslexia, or ADD, and will do very well when properly treated.

The "acting white" thing- it happens sometimes, but too many people seem to have this need to think that every black kid who does well in school is beleaguered with that accusation. That's not the case.

It's bad enough that we're under attack from all sides. But now, we have pseudo-progressives white bloggers (Markos Moulitsas) who train for six months with the CIA and then want to tell the Democratic Party how to be progressive: (More "states' rights")

Well, did you know that Markos Moulitsas' (DailyKos) "family business" had received six-figure payments from the US government, and millions of dollars in international aid for the globalization of the Central American tourism economy? Markos tells us he's a poor immigrant, but read THIS ARTICLE and tell me whether Markos Moulitsas' "poor immigrant" routine is any less than a very elaborately maintained cover story for something much more sinister.

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